FIREFIGHTERS fear lives could be put at risk because a reckless pupil is deliberately setting off the fire alarm at a Bracknell secondary school.

A spate of false alarms in the past month at Garth Hill College has caused the school to evacuate staff and pupils and disruption to lessons.

The school in Sandy Lane has been unable to trace the pupil responsible but is extending the day by 15 minutes each time the fire alarm is wrongly activated.

A letter from headteacher Stan Turner, in the school’s Parent’s Bulletin last month, read: “As you are probably aware everyone in a school must, by law, evacuate the premises when the fire alarm goes off for whatever reason.

“I am sure you will agree that this is a sensible requirement because in the event of a fire, people’s lives are at risk.

“Unfortunately, in recent months there have been a number of occasions when a pupil has deliberately smashed a fire alarm glass to set off the alarm without any good reason.”

Each time the fire alarm is activated staff and pupils have to assemble to register at the tennis courts in the school playground.

The school has been unable to trace the culprit but hopes the measure will deter the culprit and there will work as a deterrent.

Education law allows headteachers to delay the departure of pupils by 15 to 20 minutes at the end of each day without prior notice.

At a Garth Hill College governors’ meeting last month it was voted unanimously lessons would continue for an additional 15 minutes if a pupil set off the fire alarm deliberately when there was not a fire.

Mr Turner added: “The whole college is disrupted and there is a loss to the lesson concerned of about 20 minutes each time this occurs.

“I am sure that you would not want your son’s or daughter’s education disrupted or for them to lose time from lessons, which is needed to help them do their best at school.

“The last time a false alarm occurred was in the middle of an A-level examination and this could have affected the grade the students are awarded.”

The Royal Berkshire Fire and Rescue Service has warned anyone intentionally setting off fire alarms is putting those involved in actual emergencies in danger.

Rob Watson, station commander at Bracknell fire station, said: “We have our fair share of hoax calls and false alarms and I applaud Garth Hill in taking active steps to deal with the problem.

“We treat every call as an emergency. If we have to attend a false alarm, it can mean lives are at risk elsewhere if we are required at a road traffic accident or a real fire.

“We only have finite resources and this can mean they are stretched and crews have to be drafted in from as far as Reading to cover, which can take longer when time is of the essence.”